N4G is an international video game discussion forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

. It relies on user submitted content, where registered contributors submit news about gaming and the industry from all across the internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, borrowing articles from established gaming news websites. N4G also keeps track of video game reviews from other sites, and combines them to present an average rating for each game.

Content

The site features news collectively gathered from various websites. Each submission must have a verifiable and legitimate source, such as a well-known gaming website. The popularity of each submission is measured in "degrees." Submissions with higher degree values, or "heat," rise to the top of the page. Submissions include news, images, videos, tips, and rumours. The site also offers prizes to winners of Contributor Contests; eligible users are those who submit the most news in a month.

Registered users discuss and comment on news in the comment section.

User rights

Registration is free, and a new user may post or contribute stories without prior assessment. Each user's comment privileges are measured in "bubbles," indicating how many comments per submission they can make. These bubbles are part of a user feedback system, through which fellow users can rate each others' comments and increase or decrease a user's bubbles. Comments from members who have one bubble are hidden by default. While this system is intended as a way to rate the quality of a member's post, there is also a simple "Agree/Disagree" option, which does not affect a user's comment privileges.